Yarra Bay is a 1.5 km wide south-facing bay located between La Perouse and Molineux points. The latter is the southern tip of Port Botany’s Banks Wall. Along the eastern side of the 1 km deep bay are five beaches (BB 1-5). Frenchmans Bay is named after the famous French navigator La Perouse who landed here in 1788, with a tall monument commemorating this event immediately south of the first beach. The once continuous beach is now divided into two by a central groyne. The southern beach (BB 1) commences inside La Perouse Point and curves to the north for 420 m to the rock groyne. It faces west towards Molineux Point and receives very low refracted swell around La Perouse Point, which surges up the moderately steep reflective beach usually maintaining a series of beach cusps. The southern corner of the beach is backed by a high seawall built to support the backing road, while a boatshed-restaurant straddles the southern end of the beach, with a low foredune (Fig. 4.252). Houses back most of the remainder. Conditions are usually calm at the beach and numerous boats moor off the beach, with small boats pulled up on the beach on weekends and during summer. This is a popular beach, accessible from the road, the reserve north of the boatshed and an access path near the groyne. The northern end of the beach (BB 2) continues north of the groyne for another 170 m to the low sandstone rock of Yarra Point. It is backed by a low foredune and a grassy reserve, with access on foot along the beach, via the backing reserve or by boat. read more

Beach Length: 0.42km